Colombia Takes Messi, Argentina In Early Copa Trench

Copa America opening match of Group B on Saturday was a sluggish start but burst into life when Roger Martinez scored a brilliant goal as Colombia defeated Lionel Messi’s Argentina .

This match featured a huge number of stars such as Messi, Sergio Aguero, Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez. But they were pale in that match and it was Martinez who put Colombia up with one goal by a strong shot in the 71st minutes.

Obviously, the defeat takes Argentina in an early trench in Copa America tournament where they have reached runners-up in four from the 1st five previous games.

Martinez’s mind blowing strike occurred in the 71st minute and in the 86th minute( 15′ later), Martinez fellow substitute Duvan Zapata made it 2-0 by striking from close range to knock in a cross from Jefferson Larma.

“We didn’t want to begin in that way. There was a little bit of nerves , of wanting to have a memorable debut, of not wanting to commit errors,” Messi said after the match.

In the 1st half, Colombia was stronger but Argentina became aggressive when Rodrigo de Paul replaced Angel Di Maria immediately after the interval. And Messi was able to create some problems but wasted his best chance.

Martinez’s outstanding strike made Argentina weak and though they came back with a couple more efforts , they never seemed like scoring.

Messi expressed,”We have to keep our heads high and plan about what’s next, because this is just the starting and there’s still a lot Copa match left.”

“They(Argentina) are always a very difficult competitor and they get the best player in the world. We got the challenge of losing them after so much time. We need more maturity and I thought we’re close, and this was a good fortune,” Colombia captain Falcao praised for opponent Messi.

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